"The sexual exploitation of Shirley Temple might have been horrific on screen, but things were so much worse behind the scenes. During the production of her many films, Temple and her fellow child actors endured an abundance of both physical and sexual abuse. In her 1988 book: Child Star: An Autobiography, Temple described the Baby Burlesks series as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence." She also explained that if any of the preschool age children misbehaved on set, they were locked in a windowless booth called the "punishment box" and be forced to sit on a solid block of ice for extended periods of time. Temple was sent to the "punishment box" several times but claimed it did "no lasting damage" to her psyche. Temple described these production sets having a very strong, present, "time is money" attitude. This led to her being forced to work while injured on multiple occasions, one time working a single day after a serious eardrum operation.
In 1940, at the age of 12, Shirley Temple had a meeting with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer producer, Arthur Freed, where he exposed himself to her. After seeing her nervously giggle, Freed threw Temple out of his office. This deplorable man would go on to produce wildly successful films such as Singin' In The Rain, The Wizard of Oz, an American in Paris, and Annie Get Your Gun. Being a known, bold pedophile did little to lessen your reputation or professional success in early Hollywood."
Here's a part of that link I posted:
"The sexual exploitation of Shirley Temple might have been horrific on screen, but things were so much worse behind the scenes. During the production of her many films, Temple and her fellow child actors endured an abundance of both physical and sexual abuse. In her 1988 book: Child Star: An Autobiography, Temple described the Baby Burlesks series as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence." She also explained that if any of the preschool age children misbehaved on set, they were locked in a windowless booth called the "punishment box" and be forced to sit on a solid block of ice for extended periods of time. Temple was sent to the "punishment box" several times but claimed it did "no lasting damage" to her psyche. Temple described these production sets having a very strong, present, "time is money" attitude. This led to her being forced to work while injured on multiple occasions, one time working a single day after a serious eardrum operation.